Citi’s New Fintech Marketplace Features Expensify, Xero

Need to Know

• Citigroup is launching a fintech marketplace for third-party companies.
• The marketplace functions essentially as a signed data access agreement, allowing Citi clients to safely and securely share their banking information with third-party apps.
• Marketplace apps include BillGo, eMoney, and Expensify, which allow customers to pay bills, manage business expenses, plan their finances, and more.

Analysis

Citigroup has launched a new “marketplace” for third-party fintech companies, now offering Citi clients a secure way to share their account details with other financial apps and services. 

The new marketplace is essentially a signed data access agreement between Citi and a number of startups and data aggregators, that customers can approve before providing their account information using the apps’ services. 

Tapping into API token-based technology, Citi clients can easily and safely access third-party apps such as BillGO, eMoney, Expensify, and Xero, which allow them to conveniently pay bills, manage expenses, plan their finances, and more. 

“At Citi, we believe in giving our customers choice, convenience, and control of their financial data,” says Mike Naggar, chief digital officer of Citi’s U.S. Consumer Bank. “Through the use of APIs, these agreements will help provide a seamless and secure data sharing experience for Citi customers who choose to share their financial data with third-party apps and services.”

While many major banks may feel a sense of competition with emerging fintech firms, Citibank published a blog to their website explaining why they choose to work in collaboration with fintech startups instead. 

“…Fintechs are smaller, less hierarchical, more agile and tend to have a niche value set. As a result, they are often able to bring solutions to market faster than a large global bank with numerous competing technology investment demands. And when partnerships are pursued that are targeted and relevant, they can help a bank adapt—and grow—to meet clients’ changing needs,” wrote Allyson Laurance, Citi’s global partnerships head, Treasury and Trade Solutions. 

In addition to collaborating with emerging fintech companies, Citi has invested in its digital strategy in other ways. 

Earlier this year, the popular banking group unveiled a new AI-powered intelligent virtual agent (IVA) that operates as a new customer service solution. The IVA can “understand languages, accents, and dialects, and can understand the intent of the call by making sense of the customer’s word choice.”

In May, Citibank expanded digital banking capabilities to 37 countries worldwide. Now more clients can perform everyday banking transactions, sign documents, and open an account virtually—and safely—from home.